Car end



July 16, 1940. w. D. THOMPSON CAR END ZSheets-Sheet l Filed March 14, 1938 A TTORNEYS July 16, 1940. w`. D. THOMPSON CAR END Filed March 14, 1938 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR WILLIAM D. THOMPSON A TTORIVE YS Patented `uly 16, 1940 2,207,955 CAR END y William D.

Thompson, Birmingham, Mich., as

signor, by mesne assignments,` to Standard Railway Equipment Manufacturing Company, a-corporation `ofDelawarcf-- Application 'ivrqmali 14, 1938, serial No. 195,872

f 4 claims. (111.1105410) i The inventionv relates to carwall constructions being a continuation in part of my` copending .application for patent, Serial No. 760,006, filed December 31, 1934. Thesubject'` matter of the parent application is a railway freight cai" of the house typein whichk the verticalwalls and also the roof' are formed of`j ,channel plate units, @andr preferably mntsfashioned by a rolling process. Such units have various advantages, particularly Where formed by' the c old rolling procr.ess.-vvhich ydensles the metal,l increasing its lstrengthend the smoothness of surface.y They can also be manufactured more economically and can bereadily secured to each other. and to `co operating element'sby Welding. The present application/relates lto thecar wall construction vand more particularly tocar ends.4 l It is the primary bject of .theinvention to ob'- ftsin increasedjstrengthrsmcre ,particularly for fwithstanding stresses developed bythe shifting of the load to'impingeaga-inst the end ofthe car,v

and also* to stresses due to anyy external end shocks. In the presentvstate ofthe art, certain constructions of car ends have been formed of f metal plateswhich are variously-ribbed or fashfioned toproduce atrussing effect and which at theirmargins are-'secured tothe end postsv and :end sillsof'the car.rv Afpoint of'weakness with many Aof such constructions is that the marginal p0rtions of the plates are merged into ai single plane for attachmentn to the posts and sills. Thus rWherek there is an endshock leither'externalor in- `ternal these single plane portions are'easily deflected, producing abulging or other distortion of 'thefcar end. It is a primary object of the present invention to vovercome such defect by amore frigid attachment' between the car end and'the bodyof the car. It *isl afurther` plijectto` attain a construction whichis formed 'from rolled stock, thereby'dispensing with the usefof costly dies and pressesl and also ,securing greaterV strength in the material itself. Still further, it isianobject 'to'attain a construction which willresist end shocks, whether these`I bef from the insidein an outward direction or from the outside in an in- A ward direction. With these and other advantages in viewthe. invention., consists in vthe construction as hereinafter setfforth.

In the drawings:

Figure l is an end elevation of a railway freight car. to which my improved end construction is applied;

Figure 2 is a side elevation of the end portion of the car;

' various ways.

Figure 3 is a vertical section through the car Figure l` is a plan ,view thereof partlyin horizontal section;

Figure 5 is a perspective view of a portion of "5 the Vend showing the attachment to a modied construction of corner post for the car;

i Figuren is an elevation of the blank from which the end plate is formed;

[Figure Z'is a horizontal section showing the 5l0 A carA end as attached to another` modied construction of corner post;

1 Figure 8 is a perspective viewof the reinforcingbracket used in Figure 7;

Figure 9 is an end elevation ofthe construcl5 tion in Figure 7.

` vMy improved car end A maybe formed either of a single unit or preferably of a series of units ysecured to eachother by Welding. .As shown in Figures l`to 4, inclusive, the-end is formed of' a @50 yseries of three units A', A2 and A3, each of which j is a reversely channeled plate comprising portions alternately in spaced parallel planes connected 'by portions substantially normal to these planes. 'Eachunit also has one or more complete channels in the central part thereof and marginal vportions Whichare complementary to each other to form another channel. Thus by abutting the edges of these units at B and B and welding them together, there'is formed an integral structure '30 extending from'floor sill to roof and. with the `channels thereof extending from side to side.

This end unit may be secured to the car body in Thus as shown in Figures 1 to 4,

metallicv strips C are notched to correspond`in35 contour to the reverse channels and are secured by Welding to the ends of saidchannel portions von opposite sides of the car. .These strips eX- vtend inward or in the longitudinal direction of the car to overlap the side walls D and corner 240 ,posts E of the car to which they are attached either by riveting orwelding. In the modica-r tion rshown in Figure, 5, instead .of securing the 'ends to separate strips they are directly attached tothe corner posts E which as vshown are of ani345 fgle cross section. The ends of the channels abut against the flange E2 of thepost and are rigidly secured thereto by Welding, preferably the full length of' contact. 'They are also further attached to the member E by Welding both edgesv of the inner panel to the flange E3 of the post. This forms an exceedingly rigid connection for resisting end shocks and one which will not tend to either twist or distort the post. Inasmuch as the angle members E which form the corner posts are rolled sections they have fillets at the inner corners thereof. Thus if the ends of the channel portions were square they wouldbe held by these fillets from full contact with the flange E2. This may be avoided by forming the channel units from blanks such as shown at F, Figure 6, having the portions which form the inner plane portions of the car end cut away at Fto leave the intermediate portions F2 of a slightly greater length. Such blank when formed into the channel section will abut against the flange E2 all of the portion F2 which constitutes both the outer plane portion and the portions normal thereto.

The constructions thusfar described require the car end to extend the full width of the car between the outer sheathingthereof. In `the construction of Figures 7 to 9 inclusive, the corner posts G are of a Z-bar `cross section with the intermediate web G thereof extendinginward or transverse to the length of the car. This forms inner flanges G2 on the post which are spaced from each other by a dimension less than the full Awidth of the `car and between which flanges the car end is placed. The channel portions are welded to these flanges G2 in a similar manner to that previously described in connection with Figure 5. This construction by reducing the width of the car end saves in weight but as thus far described is open to the objection that it is less rigid to withstand end stresses. For instance, an outward stress in the car end occasioned by the shifting of the load inside the car thereagainst'would tend to bend the web portions G of the posts outward, or to enlarge the angle between the same and the ilanges G2. On the other hand, inwardly directed shocks against the car end would tend to bend the web portions G' in an inward direction, thereby diminishing the angle between the same and the flanges G2. Both such deflections can be prevented by reinforcements, such as the corner brackets H illustrated in Figures 7 to 9.

-These brackets may, if desired, be formed of pressed sheet metal of a channel section, as `illustrated in Figure 8, having a generally triangular form with the edges H' and H2 abutting against the flange G2 and web G', and secured thereto by welding. If desired, one of these brackets may be placed adjacent to each of the outer plane portions of the end and will have the eil'ect of thoroughly bracing the structure against endwise displacement. Thus, if the shock is from the load inside and in an outward direction, then the members H will act as tension members holding the angle between the web G' and flange G2 constant, and thereby preventing any outward movement of the end. On the other hand, if the shock against the end is in aninward direction the members H will act as compression members which again will hold the angle between the web G and flange G2 constant, thereby preventing inward movement of the end. The added weight of these bracket members H will be considerably less than the weight saved by reducing the width of the car end, so that the construction illustrated in Figures 7 to 9 will be less in total weight than that illustrated in the other figures.

A characteristic feature of all of the modifications above described is that there are no lines of weakness between the car ends and the car body as is the case with such constructions where the reinforcing ribs merge into a common plane at the margin of the sheets. Consequently, these constructions are all much more rigid in withstanding deilections longitudinally of the car in either an outwardoran inward direction.

This increase in rigidity is due in 'part to the fact that both the outer and inner planes of the channeled members extend in straight. lines from post to post and together' with the -latter form a truss. Also, the channeled members lin both the spaced planes and the planes normal thereto are welded to the post members throughout their entire cross sectional contour, which i further increases Ythe rigidity.

What I claim as my invention is: 1. In a railway car, a combination of spaced apart corner posts each having a ilat portion in a plane extending longitudinally of the car and an angle portion transverse thereto, and a car end havinginner and outer plane portions with intermediate connecting portions substantially normal thereto together forming channel portions extending transversely of the car, theends of said. channel yportions abutting against Asaid ilat portions of the posts and weldedthereto, and

said channel portions being also welded tothe 1 angle portions of said posts extending transversely of the car.

2. In a railway car, thecombination with "a corner post of angle cross section having a illlet in the angle thereof, of a car end having inner` and outer plane portions withintermediate connecting portions substantially normal thereto together forming channel portions of uniform cross section throughout their length, the ends of said channel portions being cut away to clear` said fillet and to permit all portions of the edges thereof to abut against one flange of said corner post, said edges throughout their length-being welded to said ange and said channel portions being also welded to the other flange of said angle post. 3. In a railway car, the combination of spaced" apart corner posts each having a ilat portion in a plane extending longitudinally of the car and an angle portion transverse thereto, and a'car end having inner and outer intermediate connecting portions together forming channel portions extending transversely of the car, the ends of said channel portions abutting against saidilat portions of the posts and welded thereto, and said channel portions being plane portions with 2150 Welded t0 the angle 'portion of said posts .ex-"f tending transversely of the car. I,

4. In a railway car, the combination with a corner post of angle cross sectionv having a fillet in the angle thereof, of a car end having inner and outer plane portions with intermediate con-f' necting portions, the ends of said channel por-y tions being cut away to clear said llet and toV permit all portions of the edges thereof to abut against one flange ofsaid corner post, said edges throughout their length being welded to `saidl` flange and said channell portions being also welded to the other flange ofv said angle post.

WILLIAM D. THOMPSON. 

